Translating a 3d model to 2d using assimp - c++

Question

I'm using c++ to translate a 3d model entered using command line arguments into a 2d picture in assimp. However I'm not sure of the best way to go about it. I have the basic hard coding for to create a set object but I need to redo it using vectors and loops. What's the best way to go about it?
void createSimpleQuad(Mesh &m) {
// Clear out vertices and elements
m.vertices.clear();
m.indices.clear();
// Create four corners
Vertex upperLeft, upperRight;
Vertex lowerLeft, lowerRight;
Vertex upperMiddle;
// Set positions of vertices
// Note: glm::vec3(x, y, z)
upperLeft.position = glm::vec3(-0.5, 0.5, 0.0);
upperRight.position = glm::vec3(0.5, 0.5, 0.0);
lowerLeft.position = glm::vec3(-0.5, -0.5, 0.0);
lowerRight.position = glm::vec3(0.5, -0.5, 0.0);
upperMiddle.position = glm::vec3(-0.9, 0.5, 0.0);
// Set vertex colors (red, green, blue, white)
// Note: glm::vec4(red, green, blue, alpha)
upperLeft.color = glm::vec4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
upperRight.color = glm::vec4(0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1.0);
lowerLeft.color = glm::vec4(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0);
lowerRight.color = glm::vec4(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
upperMiddle.color = glm::vec4(0.5, 0.15, 0.979797979, 1.0);
// Add to mesh's list of vertices
m.vertices.push_back(upperLeft);
m.vertices.push_back(upperRight);
m.vertices.push_back(lowerLeft);
m.vertices.push_back(lowerRight);
m.vertices.push_back(upperMiddle);
// Add indices for two triangles
m.indices.push_back(0);
m.indices.push_back(3);
m.indices.push_back(1);
m.indices.push_back(0);
m.indices.push_back(2);
m.indices.push_back(3);
m.indices.push_back(0);
m.indices.push_back(2);
m.indices.push_back(4);
}

Answer 1

If you want to generate a 2D-picture out of a 3D-Model you need to:
Import the model
Render it via a common render-lib into a texture or manually by using our viewer and take a snapshot
At this moment there is no post-process to generate a 2D-View automatically in Assimp.
But when you want to do this with your own render-code this is not so hard to do. After importing your model you have to:
Get the bounding box for your imported asset, just check the opengl-samples in the assimp-repo for some tips
Calculate the diameter for this bounding box.
Create a camera, for OpenGL you can use glm for calculating the View-Matrix
Place the asset at (0|0|0) world coordinate system
Move your camera by the diameter at let it view onto (0|0|0)
Render the view into a 2D-Texture or just take a screenshot